Homers, Runs Aplenty During 9-0 Cats Win Over Aces

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Offense was unrelenting for the Sacramento River Cats on Tuesday, scoring in seven of their eight frames with an at-bat en route to a 9-0 domination of the Reno Aces in their series opener.

Osleivis Basabe singled into left and later turned into the game’s first run when Marco Luciano ripped a single into left field, setting the River Cats (3-4/39-43) on their way to one of their most impressive victories of the year.

Sacramento crushed three homers in the contest, the first of which came in the second when Logan Porter lifted off with his third of the campaign in the home half of the second. That was his first big fly since he hit one on May 20 (19 games played).

Shortly after and Hunter Bishop joined the dinger party, mashing his second home run in as many games. Both came in the form of a three-run shot, as today he crushed one the opposite way to left field for a three-run blast in the bottom of the third. That gave Bishop 10 RBI in his past four games after recording 11 in just the previous 26 games played.

Basabe struck again with an RBI double down the left-field line in the fourth, and that preceded the team-leading 13th homer of the season from Marco Luciano. The second hit of the contest for Luciano came in an 0-2 count and travelled down the left-field line and hooked just inside the foul pole.

The final two tallies of the game came in the sixth and eighth, starting when a Sergio Alcántara double scored in the next at-bat on a Wade Meckler RBI knock into right center, while a Drew Ellis sacrifice fly brought home Basabe in the eighth.

Sacramento’s fifth shutout win of the season came in part due to the pitching efforts of Trevor McDonald (6-5) and Sean Hjelle, with the former drawing the start and not allowing a single run on three hits over seven innings. Two of those knocks came during the first two at-bats of the game in the first frame, but McDonald settled in and matched his season best with seven innings of work while carving up five. Meanwhile, Hjelle worked two scoreless frames and struck out one with two hits allowed.

Basabe closed with a three-hit night by going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two doubles. Bishop extended his current hitting streak to four games by going 1-for-3 with the three-run dinger, while Luciano was 2-for-5 with a pair of run-scoring hits.

Now with the early advantage in the series, the River Cats will look to win this short three-game set when the two teams meet again at Sutter Health Park on Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. (PT).